‘It had been a wonderful experience to be a part of your agency’ Hyesung smiled at the wokers including Junjin and Andy when they made a surprise farewell for Hyesung since he was going to quit. Thanks to his grandfather’s influence, Hyesung somehow got to quit the agency without any complications, like contract and stuffs.

Even though they only knew Hyesung for only 5 months, they had fun with him and the people who had hard times to say goodbye was Junjin and Andy. Andy hugged him tightly and kept saying that he wished Hyesung didn’t quit.

*Hey, I promise that I’ll visit you :)* Hyesung cheered him up.

*Okay! ^^ I’ll wait for your call, hyung!*

Hyesung had been thinking if he should stay longer to see Eric who had gone out for a meeting. But he thought that even if Eric came back, he must have had other important work to do. It wasn’t like they never see each other for a long time, heck they talked about Hyesung’s departure yesterday when Eric received the news from one of the board directors.

‘I’ll get going, guys… Thank you’ Hyesung smiled for the last time before leaving. One thing that had stuck on his mind was how he was going to maintain his connection with Eric once he got out from the agency. Would they still contact each other? Or was it just going to be a hi and bye situation? Thinking about it made Hyesung’s head ache.

As he was walking out from the building, he bumped into Eric at the lobby and the older guy seemed in a rush.

‘Eric..?’ Hyesung said in disbelief. He was sure that Eric’s meeting was going to be a long time.

‘Are you leaving now?’ Eric said once he took a deep breath.

‘Yeah, they made a surprise farewell for me’ he smiled.

‘I know… They told me but I had a meeting’ he explained as he took steps closer to Hyesung.

‘Don’t you have a meeting now?’

Eric stood in front of him and nodded, ‘Yeah, but I finished the meeting early’

‘Can you do that?’ Hyesung asked in awed.

‘Yeah, I guess so. And I want to see you off myself’ he mumbled softly that made Hyesung touched.

‘Are we going to see each other afterwards..?’ Hyesung asked as it was the only thing he could think of right now.

‘Do you want to?’ Eric stared at his eyes.

Hyesung scratched his head awkwardly, ‘Are you willing to?’

‘It would such a waste if we become strangers’ he shrugged his shoulder.

Hyesung smiled sheepishly, ‘Then, I’ll see you around’

Eric took out something from his pocket and gave it to Hyesung, ‘I don’t usually know what to get for guys especially rich people like you. But I hope you like it’

It was a small box and when Hyesung opened it, he had his eyes wide open. A circle pendulum but was carved beautifully inside the circle.

‘T-Thank you’ he muttered.

‘I thought that it might suit you because it’s beautiful in a unique way’

‘I really like it’ he smiled at the older guy.

‘I guess that I should say goodbye now… I have another meeting later’ he announced.

‘Oh okay, I’ll see you again Eric’ he waved goodbye before Eric excused himself.

‘Alright, take care’ Eric smiled at him.

XXX

Since Hyesung had quit from the agency, he resumed his job at the organisation and even though he wanted to see and talk to Eric again, but he didn’t have the courage to do so. So for the time being, he just focused on his job.

Kring… Kring… Kring…

Hyesung’s phone rang when he was walking downstairs to the kitchen. He smiled when he saw the caller ID.

‘Hello?’ he greeted calmly.

‘Hello, what are you doing today?’ Eric asked since it was the weekend.

‘Nothing, I just woke up and I want to make lunch now’ he replied.

‘You mean your chef will make lunch for you’ he said sarcastically.

Hyesung rolled his eyes but the smile never faded on his face, ‘Whatever…’

‘Anyway, what are you doing today?’ Hyesung asked him the same question.

‘Nothing, I feel like going out. Wanna come?’

‘Where?’

‘I don’t know’

‘Well, how am I going to meet you?’

‘I’ll pick you up obviously’

Hyesung smiled inwardly and rushed to his room to get his clothes, ‘Sure. Say in about 30 minutes..?’

‘Okay, see you later’ Eric replied before he hung up.

‘Yeah, see you’

Knock… Knock… Knock…

‘COMING!’ someone shouted from upstairs as he ran down to open the door. Hyesung had told everyone in the house to let him do it because he was sure that it was Eric.

‘Hello’ Eric greeted politely when the door was opened.

‘Hi! Ready to go?’ Hyesung asked after he closed the door.

‘Yeah’ he nodded and together they went inside his car.

‘Let’s stop by a flower shop’ Eric announced when he parked his car beside the road to go to the said shop.

‘Okay’ Hyesung replied and got out from the car.

‘What flowers are you planning to buy?’ Hyesung asked instead of asking who it was for.

‘Lilies. White lilies’

After buying the flowers, Eric drove to a cemetery and immediately Hyesung knew who it was for. He slowly followed Eric from behind until they stopped at a specific grave.

‘Have you visited her since the funeral?’ Hyesung asked once they were done greeted the late Mrs. Lee.

Eric quietly shook his head before replying, ‘No, I wasn’t ready but Andy and Junjin always visited her every week if they were not busy. And I thought that it’s better if I bring you along. Have you visited her since then?’ Eric looked at Hyesung.

Hyesung smiled faintly at him and then to the grave, ‘No, I don’t know what to say. It’s funny that even though I barely knew her, her death affected me so much’

Eric chuckled lightly, ‘That was amazing she was. She managed to affect people emotionally’

They continued praying until it was time to leave. On the way to Eric’s car, Hyesung asked the older guy.

‘How are you coping so far?’

‘It was hard at first but now I’m trying to let her go peacefully. Thanks to you, I felt a lot better. If not, I would have left the world, leaving Andy alone’

Hyesung’s heart ached and hit Eric’s arm lightly, ‘Yah, stop saying like that! It’s not nice…’ he muttered softly.

‘Okay, I won’t’ he smiled.

They decided to eat lunch at a nearby restaurant in Hongdae. Hyesung sensed something unpleasant and to find out what it was, he lied to Eric that he needed to buy something for his grandfather for his upcoming birthday.

‘Why don’t we buy it after lunch?’ Eric asked.

Hyesung chuckled awkwardly, ‘It’s fine because the place is very near from here. You just wait inside and I’ll come in 10 minutes’ he smiled as assurance.

Eric just nodded and went inside the restaurant. Hyesung then casually walked away from the restaurant and walked for a few metres from there before turning into an alley. He hid behind the wall before he noticed a guy dressed in black. As the stranger walked closer to the wall, Hyesung tackled him.

‘What the hell do you want?! I’ve been watching you since just now’ he growled.

‘Boss wants to talk to you’ he replied and took out his phone. He dialled a number and said that he got Hyesung before throwing the phone to the assassin.

‘Hello?’

‘Yes, hello Shin Hyesung… I never expect to see you, or should I say to hear your voice again’ the caller said in an eerie voice.

‘Who are you?’ he frowned.

‘Oh, you don’t have to know who I am. Just know that I’m disappointed in you for not being able to fulfil your job. You had one simple job’

‘Don’t tell me…’

The caller gave an evil laugh before replying, ‘Yes, this is the person who ordered you to kill the bastard. Eric fcking Mun!’

‘Go to hell! I’m not going to kill him’ he hissed angrily.

‘And why is that? Is it because you like him? That son of an relationship?!’ he yelled furiously.

Hyesung’s eyes widen as a moment of realisation hit him, ‘You are Eric’s father...’

‘Don’t call me that, you insolent fool!’ he yelled again but later, he regained his composure, ‘So now, I have a job for you and I need you to kill that bastard’

‘I would kill you now’ he tried to remain calm at the given situation.

‘You wouldn’t want to do that… My guy has something for you’

As if on the cue, the guy took out an iPad and showed it to Hyesung. His eyes widen when he saw CCTVs of his organisation and even worse, his house!

‘Now, do what as I tell and no one would get hurt. I can’t believe that even an assassin organisation couldn’t even secure their own safety’ he mocked.

Hyesung couldn’t stand it any longer and he threw the phone at wall and went ahead to knock out the guy. He left the alley and took a few deep breath before entering the café.

‘Hello…’ Hyesung gave a strained smile.

‘What’s wrong with you? Are you okay?’ Eric asked in concern.

‘No, I’m fine. Thanks’ he smiled and ordered his drinks.

XXX

A few days went by and Hyesung took the time to stay at home and figured out what he had done. If he didn’t kill Eric, his family would get killed but he didn’t have the courage to kill someone who he started to love. How would Eric feel when the person he started to trust betray him? The thoughts of it made Hyesung yelled in frustrations. Everyone in the household knew about Hyesung’s sudden weird behaviour and when they asked him, he just gave a weak smile and lied saying that he was tired. On the other hand, Eric tried texting and calling Hyesung but Hyesung didn’t want to answer them although that was what he wanted to do. To make things worse, the dirty politician kept sending Hyesung threats of Hyesung’s family’s pictures.

XXX

‘Hello?’

Hyesung tried not to shed any tears, ‘Are you busy?’

‘No, what’s wrong?’

‘Can you meet me?’

‘Send me the address. I’m come in 5’

‘Okay’ he nodded and right after he hung up, he broke up and started crying.

XXX

‘Eric!’ Hyesung called when he reached at the destination.

‘Oh, Hyesung’

‘I’m sorry for being late. Did you wait long?’

Eric shook his head, ‘No, I just arrived. Why did you want to see me?’

‘This’ Hyesung slowly took out his gun and pointed it at Eric.

‘You’re going to shoot me’

Rather than asking, Eric was stating the obvious. The expression on his face was emotionless. He didn’t look scared, sad nor betrayed.

‘Are you going to shoot me now?’ he asked and the tone that he was using was anticipation.

‘Stop talking or I do it now!’ he threatened.

‘But can you promise me one thing?’

‘Shut up, Eric…’ he tried not to shed tears.

‘Promise me that you’ll look after Andy. Promise me that you would take a good care of yourself. Promise me that you won’t feel guilty after you pull the trigger’

‘Shut up!’ his eyes started tearing up.

‘When I first met you, I didn’t trust you and days after days, I started to open up to you even though you had other reasons. But I never blame you because I believe that when my mum died, you were genuinely cared about me. I’m not angry nor do I feel betrayed because it’s my privilege to die being shot by you’ Eric continued to ignore his yell.

‘I SAID SHUT UP!’ Hyesung yelled furiously.

‘I love you, Shin Hyesung’ Eric gave a faint smile before closing his eyes.

*Bang!*